Vegan parents forced to give up malnourished child

Vegan parents have been forced to give up their child for adoption after he was found to be severely malnourished.

The 14-month-old boy weighed just 11lbs – the same as a three month old baby.

He was admitted to hospital in Milan by his grandparents who feared for his health.

He needed emergency surgery for a congenital heart condition, he had insufficient calcium levels and was severely malnourished.

An inquiry was opened and police were contacted so that the process could be started to get him away from his parents.

Director of paediatrics Luca Bernardo said: 'This forces us to reflect on uncommon feeding regimes, even if in this case it was complicated by a cardiac malformation.

'It is not a problem to choose different or unusual kinds of nutrition and we certainly do not want to enter into a discussion of the merits of the decision. But since birth, the baby should have had support in this case with calcium and iron.'

The court will now decide whether his grandparents will have custody of the boy.